


The Sound of Silence

by RoyEdIsMyAesthetic



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Elricest, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Short & Sweet, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 22:51:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13281552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoyEdIsMyAesthetic/pseuds/RoyEdIsMyAesthetic
Summary: “It was quiet without you,” Edward finally whispered ever so softly, “Without those little sounds you make- without… those little sounds I want to hear."





	The Sound of Silence

There was no  _"Welcome back!"_

There was no  _"You're back early! When did your train get in?"_

No  _"Hey, did you bring back some Xingese food for me?"_ , no  _"How was your trip?"_ , and no  _"It's been a while, huh?"_  said with that soft, sweet smile, because it really had been a while. It had been the longest they had ever been apart.

There was none of that when Alphonse walked into the guest room of the Rockbell residence with a brown leather suitcase held in one hand, weighing him down and tethering him to the earth. Stepping through the doorway, he blinked in the yellow sunlight which flooded in through the open window, the warmth of it tickling his nose.

Edward sat in the middle of the bed, against the far wall, with his legs crossed and his back turned, particles of dust doing pirouettes in the sunbeam cast upon his form as he stared out the open window. A bluebird was upon the windowsill- Alphonse heard the pat of its tiny feet against the wood, followed by a chirp resounding before the flapping of feathers as it flew away. It was in this moment that a great wind whistled through tree branches and tall grasses outside- the entire earth breathing with the warmth of spring.

A silence then came to rest upon the shoulders of the two brothers, and it was Edward who finally spoke and brushed it away as he continued to stare out the window and at the endless stretch of cloudless blue sky.

"It was quiet without you around," he whispered.

And that was it.

It was simply quiet when Alphonse wasn't around.

A small smile touched Alphonse's lips- perhaps a part of him desired the return of lightness of atmosphere, that is, if it had been there in the first place.

"Winry was here to keep you company when I was away, wasn't she?" he questioned.

Edward had taken the train in from his apartment in Central only a week before. The brothers were supposed to meet up in Resembool eventually. Have the Golden Trio all together in one place at the same time for once.

"It's not the same..." Edward hummed thoughtfully, the tone which he used inching back to normalcy, "It was quiet without you around. And also very loud, actually..."

"Winry's work is keeping you up again, huh?"

Edward turned around, his ponytail heard swishing in the air as he did so, and afterward, a silence did fall once more. But Alphonse could practically hear the cogs and gears within his elder brother's head turning, working, evaluating, filtering, and then coming out with an output which was perhaps less than it should have been, like watered down coffee, or perhaps instant in comparison to the actual thing. The same idea expressed in a different way.

"It was awful quiet without you around," Edward said.

Letting out a tired breath, Alphonse set his suitcase on the floor and ambled over, sitting down on the edge of the mattress.

"First you say it was quiet, then you say it was loud, and then you say it was quiet again, so which one is it?" he questioned, "Or maybe it was a combination of a lot of things happening at around the same time, so they sort of just... blended together. And it's confusing."

"That happens to a lot of people, doesn't it?" Ed questioned with a frown, "Or so I've heard."

"What happens?" Al asked, honey-colored eyes narrowing.

"Being confused."

The expression on Alphonse's face then shifted into that of concern.

Hesitantly, he lifted a hand, and slowly sliding it beneath long, golden bangs, he put his palm to Edward's forehead. He was sort of happy that he could do that these days- take a very human hand, and touch it to skin, and instantly know whether or not his brother was ill.

"Winry said that you weren't acting like yourself," Al stated softly, "You don't seem to have a fever though-at least, not that I can tell. Have you been feeling alright?"

"A bit tired," Edward admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "But nothing out of the ordinary- I've been running a little low on iron these days. It's just a little bit  _iron_ ic," he added, a playful grin suddenly spreading across his face. "Get it? Iron? Part of the word 'ironic'? Funny, huh?"

" _Badum-tish_ ," Al replied, obviously unamused.

"If Iron Man and Silver Surfer teamed up, would they be alloys?" Edward questioned.

Al chose to ignore what his elder brother called a joke.

"Stay right where you are. We'll get you some supplements later, but for now I'll go fetch a thermometer," he said, standing up, "Just to make sure."

Alphonse took two steps away, the warped floorboards creaking beneath his feet. That was all Edward needed- that first initial step to signify the leaving, and the second step to prove that Al was committed to go away. That was all Edward needed to feel an ache within his heart. That feeling when the Red String of Fate which binds two people together stretches and becomes uncomfortably taught within in the chest, sometimes tugging words out with it like a fish on a line suddenly pulled from the pond.

"Stay with me!" Ed called, his voice louder than was intended.

Alphonse paused and turned as his elder brother bowed his head in embarrassment. But the embarrassment was soon over, the end marked by the meeting of eyes.

"Stay with me like old times," Edward insisted, his voice unusually soft. "You always used to stay with me..."

Alphonse blinked his eyes, a small smile of understanding slowly touching his lips.

"Alright," he breathed. "I'll stay for a while."

He carefully sat upon the edge of the bed as Edward lay down on his side, looking ever so peaceful, and almost otherworldly with his hair glimmering like a halo in the afternoon sun.

Al closed his eyes.

He listened to the sounds of the house- its floors, and walls, and ceilings settling like a pan in a warm oven. Winry sweeping the kitchen floor- the brush of straw against wood. The tick of the clock hanging in the hall, counting off the seconds. The minutes. His brother's breathing, so even... steady... dependable... familiar.

A reminder of life. A reminder of living.

"I can hear your breathing," Edward whispered, his cheek still pressed against the surface of the mattress. "I never used to hear your breathing..."

"Well, I never used to have lungs," Al replied.

Edward chuckled lightly. "You did, just... just not for as long as you  _should_  have had lungs."

Alphonse bowed his head sheepishly, but his smile quickly shifted into a mischievous smirk. "I used to hear you breathing though. At night when you were asleep, sometimes your breath- it would... it would quicken whenever you were having some sort of hot dream."

"That didn't happen!" Ed shouted, sitting up suddenly.

"Sometimes I thought you were jerking off under the covers!" Al joked, "You were a ball of raging hormones..."

"I did not get off when we were in the same room- I always went to the bathroom like a proper gentleman and jerked off to top shelf magazines- fine literature!" Edward exclaimed, "Always fine literature!"

"What I'm saying really can't be helped- you were always so horny! That's just the truth!" Alphonse laughed, teasing his elder brother just a bit further. And to his glee, he got just the reaction that he wanted.

"You're such a dick!" Ed exclaimed, shoving Al playfully.

Alphonse shoved Edward back, and not willing to give in, Edward pushed Al, the bedsprings beneath them squealing with amusement as Al tried to fight him. But the lightness of laughter was Alphonse's downfall, making him uncoordinated, and soon enough, his back met the mattress, the bed bouncing slightly beneath him.

Edward was on his hands and knees above him, and when he initially realized the position that he was in, Al continued to grin, because he continued to think that it was a game. But when he realized that Edward was no longer laughing, and his older brother was looking at him with that look in his eyes which he did not quite recognize, Al came to know that the game was long over. His smile fell, and he shifted slightly in discomfort against the white duvet covers.

The covers whispered Alphonse quiet. And he obeyed.

And as Edward looked unblinkingly down at Alphonse, he too obeyed, or perhaps... perhaps they didn't. For nothing can stop the sound of breathing intertwined.

"It was quiet without you," Edward finally whispered ever so softly, "Without those little sounds you make- without... those little sounds I want to hear. Those things that... that remind me that I'm not alone. And if ever I feel so, to see my other half, all I need to do is open my ears and listen. And when I do... they are always filled with sound." A small, soft smile touched Edward's lips. "For you are always there. You are always with me."

A silence.

Alphonse swallowed back the lump which had formed in his throat. And not wanting to be looked at with those eyes, familiar like breath, he closed his own, and removed himself in the most painless of ways possible. Letting out a quiet breath of air, he soundlessly began to sit up, and Edward made room for him so he could sit beside him.

Like old times. Like he always used to.

"So... this is the sound that you spoke of," Alphonse stated hesitantly, eyes blinking open and gazing at the empty wall opposite. "Where is the silence?"

The silence...

...the silence.

Edward's mouth had gone dry.

He didn't quite know what he was feeling- he didn't quite know what was bringing about the choking feeling in the back of his throat or the blurring of his vision. All he could tell, all that he could point out, was that his mouth had gone so terribly dry. He closed his eyes, and he wet his lips, and he clutched the fabric of the bed covers in his hands. And he opened his eyes, and he spoke, finding himself unable to voice all that he needed, for it was simply quiet when Alphonse wasn't around- it was simply so quiet.

"Do you..."

"Do I what?" Alphonse questioned ever so gently.

"Do you love me in a way that you shouldn't? Because I do," Edward choked, "I love you in a way that I shouldn't- perhaps its the silence that comes with absence which made my heart grow all the more fonder while you were away, but- "

Silence.

"Do you love me in a way that you shouldn't?" Ed finished.

Alphonse closed his eyes. He puts a hand to his forehead and bowed his head, and afterward... He simply stayed there.

Edward's hands balled up into fists, fingernails imprinting crescent moons into the skin of his palms. "I'm sorry," he whispered quickly. "I'm so very sorry- I'll... I'll go."

Those words were all that Alphonse needed to feel an ache within his heart. That feeling when the Red String of Fate which binds two people together stretches and becomes uncomfortably taught within in the chest, sometimes tugging words out along with it.

"Please, stay with me..." Alphonse said, eyes meeting those of his elder brother, "You always used to stay with me..."

And Ed did.

And together they listened to the sounds of the house.

The floors, and walls, and ceilings settling. Winry sweeping the kitchen floor- the brush of straw against wood. The tick of the clock in the hall. Breathing.  
  
A smile of wonder touched Alphonse's lips as he looked at his brother once more.

"Do you hear my heart beating inside of my chest?" he breathed.

"You never used to have a heart," Edward replied, a smile touching his lips as well.

Alphonse chuckled lightly. "I did, just... just not for as long as I should have had a heart. But yeah, for a while, I didn't."

"And yet it was bigger than everyone else's."

"But do you hear it now?"

Edward paused and listened closely.

"No," he finally replied, almost sadly. "No, I don't hear your heart."

Alphonse spoke softly, as he did with Ling and Lan Fan's child whenever he visited the palace, and he explained to tiny, sleeping Jiaji the beautiful wonders of life which often go unnoticed and unappreciated.

"But  _I_ do.... I hear my heart beating faster inside of my chest. And I hear it in my ears... And the sound in turn makes another sound, speaking and telling me that the person sitting before me is one I care for."

A hint of pink touched a silent Edward's cheeks and nose.

"A combination of a lot of things happen at around the same time, and they blend together," Alphonse continued to explain, "And it's confusing. There is silence in confusion and fear that is kept to oneself."

Hesitantly, Alphonse lifted a hand, and slowly sliding it beneath long, golden bangs, he tenderly cupped his elder brother's cheek. He was happy he could do that these days- take a very human hand, and touch it to skin, and instantly feel his brother's heat, the trembling beneath the surface of his skin, his stillness, the racing of his pulse... The calm as eyes closed, and onto soft, warm lips was placed a kiss, breath intermingling and making dizzy in the aftermath of the act.

"There is silence in a kiss," Alphonse whispered as sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes met once more. "And yet it speaks, saying words that go unspoken. And there is silence in the air when eyes meet, and yet thoughts loudly turn over in your head... and you find yourself unable to think of anything or anyone else."

Alphonse smiled as he told wonderful truths.

"You're beautiful. And brilliant- always have been. And you realize that the world is filled with many opposites, but sometimes they come together..." he trailed off, meshing his fingers with those of his brother, filling the spaces as they were meant to be filled.

"They come together like fingers interlocking..." he continued, "And they meet in the middle. I love you, not in a way that I shouldn't... But rather, in the way that I should. In the way that someone in love should love."

And particles of dust did pirouettes in the sunbeam cast upon the pair.

A bluebird landed upon the windowsill- Alphonse heard the pat of its tiny feet against the wood, and the flapping of its feathers.

And a great wind did whistle through the tree branches and tall grasses outside- the entire earth breathing with the warmth of spring before a silence fell upon shoulders- a silence that was filled sound.  
  


"I love you, so very much," Alphonse whispered happily, the same idea expressed in a different way.

"It was quiet..." Edward said.

_"It was quiet without you around."_


End file.
